a bleeding purple utah jazz blog

Game 21 Jazz vs. Raptors: It’s raining threes, hallelujah!

How the game started, and how the game ended: Both with Enes-Jonas moments

All’s well that ends well.

This is not usually the case with the current Jazz, but it was tonight.

This was Jazz basketball. Running, sharing the ball, making the extra pass, making the extra pass after the extra pass, keeping the foot on the gas pedal, and such a sustained and comfortable lead that we got to see all the guys get in the game. Woohoo!

P.S. Was Dwane Casey tanking? I have to ask, because Jazz Killer Emeritus Linas Kleiza did not get in the game until garbage time.

Quotage**Tyrone Corbin at practice yesterday on where the team is: We feel we’re better than the record indicate, but we are where we are. You know, we’re a .500 team now. We played good in some spurts, and we haven’t played our best sometimes, but we’re growing. I think we’ll continue to get better in some areas that we need to get better in. There’s some areas that we have to continue to work on and get better and more consistent and for longer periods of time, and on both ends of the floor…There are a lot of things to be happy with, and there’s some things we have to continue to work on.**Corbin, post-game: The way we spaced the floor tonight, and the guys just didn’t think about it. They just, it was such an instinctive basketball, and just the right play on so many occasions. We drove to the basket and the guy came across, we dropped it to the other guy. We came out of double teams, swing, swing, and we had a lot of 3-point shots on the backside also. It was really pretty basketball, and it’s fun for the guys to play. I mean, this is, I think they had a good time playing tonight.**Enes Kanter on starting, post-game: At first I was really nervous, ’cause it was my first starting in my NBA career. I was really nervous, but after I talk to Big Al, you know, I felt so much comfortable. He gave me so much confident before the game, and just he said like just go out there and play like Big Turkey. I was like, you know, he gave me so much confident. I was so comfortable.

Notice how Enes keeps trying to excitedly chest bump Randy Foye, and how Randy Foye is having none of it lol.

** I’d like to think the pic below is a direct result of this (again, @my_lo’s brainchild):

** Crazy how empty “The Solution” has been of late. The first pic is at tip-off, which makes the number of empty seats kinda, sorta understandable. The second and third, however, are from mid-game tonight and vs. Orlando.

Unintentional Dirty Quote Machines of the Night (UDQM)** Derrick Favors, shootaround: I’m not going to push it. I’m just go out there, see how it feel. If it doesn’t feel right, Imma sit out.** Corbin on Enes starting, pre-game: There may be a few minutes where he’s a little over-excited for it, but he’ll calm down and play, and I’m looking forward to him.** Corbin on the Jazz’s power forward rotation: Well, Jeremy will go first, and then we’ll see how it goes.** Corbin on “Barg-nonny”: He gets ‘em up really quick.** Raptors guy: This team loves to push it down your throat on miscues.** Raptors guy on Tinsley: The moment he left, bang! He just drilled it.** Steve Brown: That’s what Calderon does so well, he just probes and probes. (H/T @bjcseven)** Brown: They don’t want everyone to see it, so they just go in the tunnel and straighten it out for him. (H/T @bjcseven)** Brown: They just pull it out and it’s amazing how fast the pain goes away. (H/T @bjcseven)** Raptors guy: Kyle Lowry does that a lot. You turn your back, he comes behind you.** Booner: He stays up (in the air) for so long, full extension. (H/T @dianaallen)** Raptors guy: You got ten holes in the dike and you only got ten fingers to plug it up, and now you’ve sprung a leak.** Corbin on the Jazz’s point guards, post-game: They pushed the tempo for us, which Mo started, and Jamaal came in and did a good job, and Earl finished it off.** Hayward on the Jazz’s hot shooting: When you see a couple of ‘em go in, the other ones start to go in a lot more, and the basket gets a little more wide.

Like this:

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Totally disapointed in The Solution’s crowds of late. Is all this just lack of enthusiasm with the Jazz or perhaps has something to do with the variable pricing? Or something else? It’s very disheartening that I’m 4 hours ahead costing myself hours of sleep on league pass and those people in SLC are just ignoring the team.

I always think if I paid the money for tickets I’d be hanging out at the arena as early as they start letting people in. Maybe these fans have just been to so many Jazz games that it’s become ho-hum? Also heard a story at the end of last season of people turning down free tickets because they’re not interested in seeing the young guys rot on the bench. Between all that and season ticket holders suing the Jazz and managing to get rid of the “Jazz Rowdies” so shortly after they started doing that, our home court advantage is nowhere where it used to be.